Lal interpreted the South's aggressive posture in its confrontation with the North as an attempt by developing country elites to mobilize Western ideas (specifically national self-determination and equality) in pursuit of their own ends: "the elites of the Third World remain conscious of their country's vulnerability to any determined exercise of Western military power, and also of the potential threat to their positions vis-à-vis their subjects through subversion by the West. The fear that Western economic power, expressed through transnational corporations, could be used to exert pressure through economic destabilization to sow discontent between the rulers and the ruled, continues to be a serious worry for Third World leaders. Hence their strident calls for respect for national sovereignty and codes of conduct for multinationals" (Lal 1978, 7).

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1777